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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Shadle Park downs Ferris 78-66 behind big night from big men

The Shadle Park boys basketball team used its height advantage and timely scoring from Andreas Brown to take down Ferris 78-66 Friday night on the Saxons’ home court.

Shadle Park (4-1, 3-0 Greater Spokane League) opened big leads to start the game and pushed its advantage to 19 points twice in the second half. Ferris (1-3, 1-2) cut the lead to seven points with 3:57 to play.

But the Highlanders, behind 24 points and six rebounds from Brown, outscored the Saxons 12-7 the rest of the way to seal the victory.

“It was nice to get out of here with a win,” Shadle Park coach Tim Gaebe said. “This is a solid program. I knew (the Saxons) wouldn’t go away.”

Shamrock Campbell, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, led all scorers with 26 points. Ferris’ Mike Ervin scored 15 points and he led the Saxons with five rebounds and four assists. Max Thompson scored 12 points before he fouled out.

“They hit some timely 3s,” Ferris coach Don Van Lierop said, “which is a little bit of a byproduct of their length. I liked our second half. They could have just called it in, but they didn’t. That’s certainly something we hope to build on.”

The play of the night came just before halftime when a Ferris player was called for a double-dribble, which gave Shadle Park the ball with two seconds on the clock.

Tate Dunbar caught the inbound pass and launched a prayer from half court that banked off the backboard and went in for a 3-pointer to give Shadle Park a 48-32 lead at the break.

In addition to Brown’s 24 points, Kobe Reese scored 16 points and 6-foot-8 Tanner Groves gave Ferris fits all night inside, adding 13 points.

“This was his best game this year,” Gaebe said of Brown, a 6-4 junior. “But it was also better than any game he had last year. He’s worked so hard. It’s nice to see him get rewarded.”

Brown opened the game by answering a Thompson 3-pointer with one of his own. Brown hit another 3-pointer at the start of the second half to push Shadle Park’s lead to 53-32.

But Campbell kept hitting jumpers to bring Ferris back late in the game.

“That kid can shoot it,” Gaebe said of Ferris’ Campbell. “The pull-up jumper is toughest shot to defend in basketball and that kid is as good as anyone I have seen in a long time.”

Gaebe said he was most impressed with how his team responded after Ferris made its late run.

“This is such a tough league. Teams are not going to go away,” he said. “The upside is that we didn’t panic and we made plays down the stretch to hold them off.”